East and North Aegean Travel Video Guide

East and North Aegean Travel Itinerary

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The seven substantial islands and four minor islets scattered off the north Aegean coast of Asia Minor and northeastern Greece form a rather arbitrary archipelago. Although there are some passing similarities in architecture and landscape, the strong individual character of each island is far more striking. Despite their proximity to modern Turkey, members of the group bear few signs of an Ottoman heritage, especially when compared with Rhodes and Kos. There's the occasional mosque, often shorn of its minaret, but by and large the enduring Greekness of these islands is testimony to the four-millennium-long Hellenic presence in Asia Minor, which ended only in 1923. This heritage is regularly referred to by the Greek government in an intermittent propaganda war with Turkey over the sovereignty of these far-flung outposts. Tensions here have often been worse than in the Dodecanese, aggravated by potential undersea oil deposits in the straits between the islands and the Anatolian mainland. The Turks have also persistently demanded that Limnos, astride the sea lanes to and from the Dardanelles, be demilitarized, but so far Greece has shown no signs of giving in.

The heavy military presence can be disconcerting, and despite the growth of tourism, large tracts of land remain off-limits as army or air force bases. But as in the Dodecanese, local tour operators do a thriving business shuttling passengers for inflated tariffs between the easternmost islands and the Turkish coast with its amazing archeological sites and busy resorts. Most of these islands' main ports and towns are not quaint, picturesque spots, but urbanized administrative, military and commercial centres. In most cases you should suppress any initial impulse to take the next boat out, and press on into the interiors.

Samos ranks as the most visited island of the group, but if you can leave the crowds behind, is still arguably the most verdant and beautiful, even after a devastating July 2000 fire. Ikaria to the west remains relatively unspoiled, if a minority taste, and nearby Fourni is a haven for determined solitaries, as are the Hios satellites Psara and Inousses , neither of which have any package tourism. Hios proper offers far more cultural interest than any neighbours to the south, but its natural beauty has been ravaged by fires, and the development of tourism was until the late 1980s deliberately retarded. Lesvos may not impress initially, though once you get a feel for its old-fashioned, Anatolian ambience, you may find it hard to leave. By contrast virtually no foreigners and few Greeks visit Ayios Efstratios , and with good reason. Limnos to the north is much livelier, but its appeal is confined mostly to the area immediately around the attractive port town. To the north,

Samothraki and Thassos are totally isolated from the others, except via the mainland ports of Kavala or Alexandhroupoli, and remain easier to visit from northern Greece, which administers them. Samothraki (officially in Thrace) has one of the most dramatic seaward approaches of any Greek island, and one of the more important ancient sites. Thassos (technically belonging to eastern Macedonia) is more varied, with sandy beaches, mountain villages and minor archeological sites.

Your Tips For East and North Aegean

• Dodecanese Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The furthest Greek island group from the mainland, the Dodecanese (Dhodhekanisos) lie close to the Turkish coast - some of the islands, like Kos and Kastellorizo, almost within hailing distance of Anatolia. - Greece
  

• Ionian Islands Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The six Ionian islands, shepherding their satellites down the west coast of the mainland, float on the haze of the Adriatic, their green, even lush, silhouettes coming as a shock to those more used to the stark outlines of the Aegean. - Greece
  

• Argo-Saronic Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The rocky, volcanic chain of Argo-Saronic islands, most of them barely an olive's throw from the Argolid, differs to a surprising extent not just from the mainland but from one another. - Greece
  

• Athens and around Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  ATHENS is not a graceful city. - Greece
  

• Epirus and the west Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  Epirus ( Ipiros in modern Greek) has the strongest regional identity in mainland Greece. - Greece
  

• Thessaly and central Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  Central Greece is a region of scattered highlights, above all the site of the ancient oracle at Delphi (modern Dhelfi), and, further north, the other-worldly rock monasteries of the Meteora . - Greece
  

• Peloponnese Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The appeal of the Peloponnese (Peloponnisos in Greek) is hard to overstate. - Greece
  

• East and North Aegean Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The seven substantial islands and four minor islets scattered off the north Aegean coast of Asia Minor and northeastern Greece form a rather arbitrary archipelago. - Greece
  

• Crete Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  Crete (Kriti) is a great deal more than just another Greek island. - Greece
  

• Macedonia and Thrace Greece Travel Videos
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  The two northern regions of Macedonia and Thrace have been part of the Greek state for just less than three generations. - Greece
  

• Cyclades Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  Named after the circle they form around the sacred island of Delos, the Cyclades (Kykladhes) is the most satisfying Greek archipelago for island-hopping. - Greece
  

• Sporades and Evvia Greece Travel Videos
  Greece Travel Itinerary
  The three northern Sporades , Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos, are scattered (as their Greek name suggests) just off the mainland, their mountainous terrain betraying their origin as extensions of Mount Pilio in Thessaly. - Greece